1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing system, printing apparatus, printing server and printing method, which are preferable applied to, for example, a system in which documents are printed by way of a network utilizing short-range wireless communication.
2. Description of related art
Conventionally, in a printing network 9 shown in FIG. 2, in cases where a printing server 10 is utilized for printing, both of a print job PJ1 and print job data PD1 are sent to the printing server 10 from a client terminal 11 handled by a user U1, so that the printing can be requested.
The print job, which is an aggregation of pieces of control for controlling jobs in relation to printing and for managing jobs, includes the name of a job and restrictions posing on resources utilized in performing the job, for example. The print job data is data itself (for example, image data) printed on pieces of paper during a printing process executed on the print job.
Under the control of one printing server 10, there are provided one or more printers (refer to a printer 12). In response to reception of both a print job (for example, PJ1) and print job data (for example, PD1), the printer 12 performs processing for the printing.
However, the number of printers (i.e., the printer 12 in this example) that can be placed under the control of the printing server 10 is limited to a certain number and the printing capacity provided by the printer has a limitation. Therefore, there is a possibility that the printer receives at a time more requests than the printer can handle per time. To handle jobs in harmony with progress in printing carried out by the printers 12, it is required that the printer server 10 has a queue for print jobs (i.e., print queue) that allows the jobs to be processed one by one in sequence.
Such a relationship between the printer server 10 and the printer 12 is true of the relationship between a printing function and a control function (not shown) established within the printer 12. Thus, a print queue can be formed in the printer 12.
To make a distinction between a print queue formed in the printer 12 and a print queue formed in the printer 12, the former is called server-side print queue SQ1 and the latter is called printer-side print queue SQ2, respectively.
The print job data PD1 is stored temporarily in a spooler SP1 in the printing server 10, and stored temporarily in a spooler SP2 in the printer 12.
The print jobs in the queue are normally read out and processed in order of the print jobs lactated in the queue. Accordingly, when taking notice of one print job PJ1 that has received a print request, the process of the print job PJ1 normally proceeds as follows.
When the print job PJ1 is transmitted from the client terminal 11 to the printing server 10, the print job PJ1 is added to the end of the server-side print queue SQ1. In cases where all of the print jobs which have already been present in the server-side print queue SQ1 before the addition of the print job PJ1 are read out and the print job PJ1 becomes the head of the queue SQ1, the print job PJ1 can be subjected to reading. The read-out the print job PJ1 is sent to the printer 12. When received by the printer 12, the print job PJ1 is placed at the end of the printer-side print queue SQ2. In the case that all of the print jobs which have already been present in the printer-side print queue SQ2 before the addition of the print job PJ1 are read out and the print job PJ1 becomes the head of the queue SQ2, the print job PJ1 can be subjected to reading. When the print job PJ1 is read out, the contents of the print data PD1 specified by the print job PJ1 is finally printed and outputted.
Thus, the user S1, who made the print request, moves to the printer 12 at the proper time when it is expected that a series of processes relating to the print job PJ1 and print data PD1 have been finished to complete the print output, and can obtain the printed output results.
Making use of the printing server 10 gives the client terminal 11 one advantage that the client terminal 11 is released from a load concerning the print processing once the terminal issued a print request. In addition, the presence of the printing server 10 gives the user Ul another advantage of being able to use the printer 12 under the control of the printer server 10 as if the printer 12 were a printer (not shown) connected directly to the client terminal 11 itself. The latter advantage is effective for a situation where a limited number of printers (for example, the printer 12 shown in this example) are used in common by many users.
It is however rare that the number of client terminals under the control of the printer server 10 is one. Namely it is usual that lots of client terminals are placed. In addition, each of the users, who are in charge of operating plural such client terminals, operates each client terminal to dynamically issue print requests on the basis of each user's actions. It is therefore difficult to each user Ul to finely predict timing of print output related to the print job PJ1 and print job data PD1.
If a predicted time is too early or in the event that it is desired to obtain results of print output as quickly as possible, there is a possibility that the user U1 is forced to wait in front of the printer 12 for a long time.
Some types of printer 12 provide a control panel 12A that can be operated by the user U1 so that the print job PJ1 is changed to a more ascendant ranking in the printer-side print queue SQ2. However, even in such a case, it is general that the print job PJ1 in the printer-side print queue SQ2 cannot be changed to locate at the head of the queue SQ2.
On top of that, the above order change is permitted under a limited situation where the print job PJ1 has already been put in the printer-side print queue SQ2. In cases where the print job PJ1 sill remains in the server-side print queue SQ1, even the change of the order cannot be permitted, thus lowering convenience and flexibility.